*
A freezing downpour fell in the place.
Blanc squinted in disbelief at the Black Knight and his companions before her.
Next to the Black Knight clad in pitch-black armor stood a woman with white hair and wolf ears.
‘Was it really a mistake to kill the Second Saintess?’
She was already aware that Schartines had died and ascended to the position of Saintess.
However, the fact that they could come to a place filled with numerous traps and monsters was beyond her expectations.
‘They must have stripped me of my name, memory, power, and talent.’
They had certainly erased her name with the power of lies, and coated the memories of those around her with the power of ignorance.
The overwhelming strength of Emperor Rock and the talent for magic of Queen Bellin had all been nullified by that power.
So how did they manage to arrive here?
The only hero foretold to defeat them in the future.
The fact that the Hero of Affection had come back to Blanc was simply too shocking.
“I want to ask your name, Black Knight.”
She found herself intrigued by the Black Knight who had come to take her life.
The current Pina Grancia was a vessel stripped of everything by the Demon Kings.
No matter how much she was called the Third Saintess, what could she possibly do when the talent for Divine Power had vanished?
The one most likely to succeed was undoubtedly that man.
“Me? I’m Licht. Black Knight Licht.”
The knight at the forefront revealed his name in response to Blanc’s question.
With a deep-set black helmet obscuring his features, she couldn’t see the face of the man who called himself Licht.
“More accurately, I am the Hero of Ideology.”
“Interesting. So the gods have summoned a new hero to subdue me.”
Blanc smiled as she gazed at Licht, who was aiming a sword at her.
The other Demon Kings of the Hero Church had already been defeated by him.
The Hero of All-Knowing, the likes of Finn, and even Black Cloud had lost their heads at the hands of the Black Knight.
Now, only the Demon King of Truth remained.
It was reversed from the time she had been summoned to slay the Demon God.
“P-Please don’t call me by the name I gifted you, sir knight…”
“What does it matter? Everyone talks about the Hero of Truth or the Demon King.”
At that, the woman clad in Saintess attire beside Licht opened her mouth.
The two men and women were teasing each other playfully despite having her right before them.
“Since you gifted me the Helmet of Ideology, I suppose I’m a hero of the Saintess too.”
Though his face was hidden by the helmet, Licht was clearly lying about something.
Blanc, being the Hero of Truth, sensed the veracity hidden within Licht’s words.
“You’re lying to my face. How amusing.”
“To be called the Hero of Conviction… is now tiresome. This body is not even mine anymore.”
Licht appeared to be possessed just like Finn.
Manifesting from within Licht’s body was what looked like another soul surging forward.
“I once held hope like you did, Black Knight.”
A life where countless lives had been sacrificed to resurrect the Demon God.
Blanc had already given up her human form to grow stronger.
Her body had transformed into a black figure from head to toe, with her mouth just barely recognizable.
“…Allow me to crush your hopes myself.”
Blanc moved her shadow-like body, revealing the true power of the Demon King to Licht and his companions.
*
Ashes swirled in the burning battlefield.
The suffocating smell mingled with the bloody scent, and screams echoed everywhere.
“There’s too much bleeding! We can’t save him…!”
“Damn it! Is there really no way to take that bastard down?!”
Faced with the overwhelming power of Blanc, Licht and his party crumbled in an instant.
“This… This is… the Demon King of Truth… Magic Hat.”
The Hero of Affection dwindled in his weakness.
The Nameless Saintess merely trembled at the sight of the Demon King trampling her comrades.
Everyone must have come with hopes of taking Blanc down.
Unlike the other Demon Kings of the Hero Church, she possessed overwhelming strength.
Eventually, Blanc attempted to snap Laplace’s neck.
“Hmm, I see there are still people alive here.”
She suddenly noticed someone familiar, drawing her attention.
A blond man wielding a shining sword and a red-haired elf wearing a wizard’s hat.
“Hero… and a mage, huh?”
They appeared terrified, trembling as they looked at her.
About ten years ago, when Blanc kidnapped Pina Grancia, she had seen two Academy students who looked just the same.
“How pitiful. You’ve managed to survive all this time somehow.”
Blanc had trampled down Kainel, who possessed the Sword of Light, and even genius mage Ariel.
Recalling her past, she began to speak.
“Struggling with all your might, yet still barely pushing through.”
She had already left a lasting memory of defeat that hurt the bones of both.
“What meaning does such a hard-won victory hold?”
She had already read their future, obliterating their very foundation. From Kainel, she had snatched away a precious brother, and from Ariel, her beloved hometown.
“Admit it, Hero. Your victories up to now… are nonexistent.”
How long had it been since she could laugh like this?
Blanc never expected to find anything funnier than Pina Grancia being turned into a Saintess.
“It’s a ‘contradiction’ that shouldn’t exist, and a ‘lie’.”
Crack! She broke the neck of the green-haired man she held and chuckled softly.
How could a Hero who had lost to her once possibly win?
“Run away, Hero. Just like you always have.”
They fled when she had kidnapped Pina Grancia.
Unable to overcome their past torment by the Demon Kings, they had fled with fear-stricken faces.
“Flee from the truth that you will lose.”
Kainel, now looking just as he did back then.
Even a slight trigger of trauma would cause a person to shatter instantly.
“Kai…?”
“A-agh…”
The face of the blond Hero grew stiff.
From blue to white, morphing into horror, colored by shock.
“WAAAAAAAAAAAH─!!”
Kainel screamed as he grasped Ariel’s hand beside him.
Most of their comrades had already perished. Finding any survivors was a tough task.
“Wait, let go of me! Kai!”
To protect what little life remained of his childhood friend, the Hero made the same mistake again and fled from the battle.
“If we run away… what will happen to the others…?”
His voice grew smaller.
In the retreating battlefield where even footsteps got drowned out, the Hero of Light and the Mage of Flames vanished without a trace.
“…Ugh. Cough, cough.”
Watching the scene, Blanc let out a chuckle.
The Hero chosen by the Sword of Light was running away like that? Was there anything funnier than this?
“HAHAHAHAHA!!”
At that moment, while Blanc was laughing at the fleeing Hero and Mage, a sword strike came flying at her.
“…Do you still wish to fight?”
Swish! A silvery flash sliced through the air.
There was no impact on her, having transformed into something beyond a human.
“How pitiful. Black Knight. You dare challenge me?”
The identity of the figure wielding the sword was the Black Knight who introduced himself as Licht.
Even though most of his comrades were dead, the man’s desire to battle her was intriguing.
“Sir Knight! Don’t be deceived!”
And what about the Saintess, using her meager Divine Power to support him from behind?
It was a struggle just to heal herself.
“We’ll support you from behind! So focus on the fight!”
“We’ll help too!”
“Indeed! If we give up, who will defend this place!”
Moved by the nameless Saintess’s words, the remaining companions of the Black Knight began to rally and support Licht.
“Everyone….”
The strength coalescing around the Black Knight.
Licht gripped the hilt of his sword tighter as he looked at his companions.
“How unfortunate. You’ve all fallen into a collective delusion.”
However, even with that, the outcome wouldn’t change.
Their amassed experiences and the time they prepared were on entirely different levels.
Even if every one of them pooled their strength, none could defeat Blanc.
“It seems like you are the final bastion for these fools, Licht.”
Watching the Black Knight ignite a flame of will against her, Blanc spoke up.
While she was admittedly surprised to have captured three Demon Kings, seeing them in person revealed them to be trifling opponents.
The victory was already predetermined. A loss was inevitable.
“Come, Black Knight. I’ll reveal to them your fall.”
He wouldn’t become a ‘successor’ like her, able to revive after death.
On the site of the former Grand Hertz Academy, she spoke with a mix of laughter.
“Into the endless truth.”
The Demon King of Truth enveloped the world with her power.
*
The battle ended abruptly.
The few who remained alive had all been reduced to charred corpses.
“Sir Knight… I’m sorry…”
Among them, only the Nameless Saintess lay beneath the ruins of a burning building.
Unable to escape, she cried tears of despair.
“I-I’m sorry for not being able to aid you… truly…”
Had she not lost everything to the Demon Kings, the Hero of Affection could have dealt a fatal blow to Blanc.
“Hurry and run away─”
Crackling. Before she could finish her final words, the building collapsed, and Pina Grancia vanished into the pages of history.
“…How pathetic.”
Blanc smirked at the sight.
The Hero prophesied to defeat all the Demon Kings would die so pitifully.
She had thought there would be someone to entertain her. Now she felt a twinge of disappointment.
“No… not this….”
Even the Black Knight, barely clinging to life, lowered his head, trembling.
“This isn’t a happy ending…”
Denying reality. It was understandable since all his comrades except him had perished.
Even as he swung his sword endlessly at Blanc, the blade never reached her neck.
Clink.
“It seems at last… you’ve grasped the truth.”
After countless futile struggles, the Black Knight Licht finally ceased wielding his sword.
“I realize now that it’s a ‘truth’ that you can never win.”
Blanc laughed at the sight of the weeping Black Knight on the ground.
Despite his determination to rise up and vanquish the Demon King time and time again, she admitted it lacked strength.
And just as Blanc sensed her victory, Licht’s eyes burning with hope emerged once more from behind the helmet.
“…Why do you keep getting up?”
Why? Even though he clearly sustained severe wounds.
His body must have been at its limit. Every bone and muscle must be screaming in pain as they moved.
“There’s only despair ahead. Face the truth standing before you.”
Blanc continued with an oppressive tone aimed at Licht.
“I am stronger than you. You cannot win against me.”
It was an instinctive movement.
As if failing to do so would mean those furious blades would reach him.
“The truth always prevails. Black Knight.”
“……”
Blanc attempted to quench Licht’s fighting spirit, but it was of no use.
“What does it matter to me? Whether it’s true that you’re powerful or not, I don’t care.”
“How laughable. You think you can run from the truth?”
After a moment of silence, Licht spoke.
On his face were burn marks identical to the current Lee Soo-hyun.
“No, I’m not running away. I will fight back.”
Casting a glance at the spot where the Nameless Saintess had died, he bit his bottom lip.
“Just as it’s true that you’re powerful, my feelings are sincere too.”
Had he perhaps caught a glimpse of a passing sight? Until just a moment ago, he looked ready to give up on everything.
‘A successor…? No way, what could the Hero of Affection have done?’
The energy emanating from that Black Knight was akin to her own.
It couldn’t be possible unless they were the same kind of successor.
“Then let’s compete. Between my ‘sincerity’ and your ‘truth’.”
Blanc instinctively grasped that the Nameless Saintess must have done something to Licht.
“Perhaps surviving will mean the truth?”
“…You jest.”
Perhaps he had died countless times, yet continuously challenged her again.
Once more, the determined man lifted his sword, coming closer as if to strike her down.
“Well, isn’t that your forte?”
“I don’t care. I’ll make you bow down again soon enough.”
Blanc sharply distorted her body, attempting to slay the Black Knight.
“Come on.”
And this would become Blanc’s final battle before she began her current life.
*
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